Eddie Favre comes to South Mississippi’s rescue – again

Aug. 29--For the second time in the nine years since Hurricane Katrina, Eddie Favre is a force for recovery in South Mississippi.

Who can forget how the former mayor of Bay St. Louis donned shorts after he lost everything else to Katrina -- and wore shorts every day for five years to keep the spotlight on South Mississippi as it continued to recover from the hurricane?

Then he put on his long pants and went to work for cities, school districts and utility departments along the Coast to get their FEMA loans forgiven.

The Community Disaster Loan Program provided millions of dollars in federal aid immediately following Katrina to keep the cities and their police, fire and utilities running.

Repayment rule changed

"It was never the intention for anybody to have to repay those loans," Favre said.

Following every other major natural disaster, FEMA has forgiven the loans, but South Mississippi faced having to repay the money because of a change in regulations.

Enter Favre, a certified public accountant, who was hired by the cities and worked with analysts hired by FEMA to change the rules.

Long Beach and Pass Christian schools were the first to get their FEMA debt fully cancelled.

"It was a great feeling," he said.

Cities save millions

"Thank God we don't have to pay this back," was the reaction of city officials still struggling with tight budgets. Bay St. Louis had about $4 million forgiven, Favre said. Gautier had already made a payment, so along with cancellation of the debt came a refund. Biloxi and Gulfport had set aside money to begin the payments when they came due and now those millions will stay in the cities' bank accounts.

Because Biloxi had a $10 million business-interruption insurance policy in case a storm closed the casinos, city officials didn't think the loans would be forgiven. FEMA decided the city shouldn't be penalized for its foresight and the debt was erased.

"It's fortunate that so many did get forgiven and unfortunate that some didn't get forgiven," Favre said.

D'Iberville had part of its debt forgiven but still is on the hook for about $300,000. Pascagoula is still owes millions, he said.

Had all the cities and schools been required to repay the loans, he said, "it would compound the disaster we already faced."

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